


Just Smoke

by ChinaSorrows



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mild Gore, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Reunions, sad dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:55:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9948608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChinaSorrows/pseuds/ChinaSorrows
Summary: Jack went to find peace, and hoped for more. Gabriel wasn't as eager.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when i was tired and sad but also everyone might enjoy this so here you go!
> 
> Also catch me on tumblr at:  
> elizascorn.tumblr.com

Dark clouds loomed over London – not unusual for the city. They reflected the atmosphere of the people, walking to various buildings and stations as they travelled through their day. Each one focused on their own lives, drifting over that of the others.

Jack, dressed in what he would deem “civilian clothing” walked with them, disguised through normalcy. He moved like the others around him, intent on his own future destination. While his body reflected the future, Jack’s mind was tainted with the past. It filled his mind with memories of comrades, battles with friends, and feelings for lovers. He knew, however, that there was one link between what his mind replayed to him, and what his body was sure to discover.

He moved throughout The Underground like it was second nature, knowing where he was destined to be, if not where he was most likely to be, at least.

Arriving at an abandoned church, in the broken and war shattered part of the city, was the decision the veteran came to: one that helped him sort his feelings, and one that was most likely to result in the outcome he most desired. 

The building had shatter stained glass lying in and around the doorway. A rainbow of forgotten worship lay before him as he entered, the shards crunching and breaking beneath his feet. As he entered, the strangled light of the sun attempting to break in between the patches of empty space in the cloud barely lit the nave of the church. It was the perfect setting for them.

“Jack…” a voice strained, a mix between a threat and a welcome.

“So, you are here. Seemed just like your type of setting Gabe.” He replied to the voice. Jack moved deeper into the building and took a seat at the front row of pews, looking down at the splinters of wood and chunks of debris that were thrown about the floor. He scanned the fading room carefully, looking for a glance of movement in the shadow. He attempted to provoke the voice once more. “You were always a sucker for the gothic and broken, weren’t you?”

“It beats sitting in a crappy old bar” came a reply from a few metres behind him. “it seemed more appropriate”. It moved away again as the last words where rasped.  
“I can give you that Gabe. But you can’t shadow me forever, you’ll have to show your face – well mask – eventually.”

A soft grunt was all the reply he got to that, as shadows swirled in front of him, congregating into the shape of Gabriel Reyes, or Reaper as he went by now. “You still love being a drama queen then.”

“Beats being boring.” Gabriel grunted, as he stepped slowly towards the soldier, boots thudding and echoing through the grand hall of the church. “Like someone I know. What’s with the old man get up anyway; flat cap, suede jacket. You really look like you’re about to lecture me on the ‘good old days’.” His tone was blunt, but his comments were sharp.

“Using shows to keep yourself hidden is very unoriginal, Gabe. Even you should have some integrity.” Jack replied, looking up to meet Reyes’ masked face. “And the Owl is a nice touch on top of it all. At least that was your own thing.”

Gabriel halted in his approach, muscles tensing at the almost hateful reply thrown back at him. That was until he saw the half smirk on the others’ face, and he relaxed slightly, but not completely. “Why shouldn’t I walk away right now. What’s going to keep me here Grandpa.” 

“Curiosity is the only thing I can offer you, and I’m pretty sure you’re older than me Gabe, so you can drop that façade now.”

“Fine.” The mercenary offered, his posture stiffening once more and his tone grating on the ears harder than when Morrison was ‘welcomed’. “Why am I here then?”  
“To talk about the past. To help with what I hope has been grating on the both of us. To… I don’t know, make up?” It was all Jack wanted: peace. The peace of knowing that his once closest companion – his husband – was still driven as mad with the thought of him now as he was so long ago. Jack gestured to his side, an empty space in the pew for Gabriel to sit. “Please.”

“This feels like your begging me. It wasn’t the first time, Jack. You were always so damn cute on your knees.” _And Gabriel secretly hope it wouldn’t be the last instance of Jack begging too._ Gabriel drew his shotguns as he once again started walking towards Morrison, and as he sat on the pew, he laid them in his lap. 

Jack knew he wouldn’t open up to him without at least a little bit of a death threat. But it was far better than nothing. “After the explosion, you died. You were dead. I saw you myself.” 

_**Flash.** Rubble feel. Distant screams. Frantic searches. Sharp pains. Can’t see. He was… He is…_

The memory spiked in Jacks head, the memory of Gabriel’s body torn into several pieces. The memory of the man he loves torn into pieces, flesh ripped from flesh, his blood staining the floor, his arm crushed under rubble his- 

“Jack!” 

The veteran snapped out of it at the harsh call. 

“I-I’m sorry Gabe. How did you live?”

“It hurt, but Zeigler was able to reassemble me into…” He gestured to his whole body with a clawed hand “this.”

Jack knew she had to have something to do with it, but being a vigilante with nothing to do with any other members of his old organisation left little room for contact with his old friends. Even this flicker of a chance to meet with Gabriel was just that – a chance. “After the base was destroyed,” Jack continued “the only thing I wanted was to be with you. It seems stupid now, the isolation, harm and… attempts I made for so many years after. But eventually, with news of this Reaper persona flying around. It gave me hope, even if we could never be the same as before, at least some form of closure could be found. Even if it took me decades to find you.”

“Didn’t ask.” Reyes responded “but at least I know your side of the story now.” His guns were moved from his lap onto the church floor.

“Tell me, how it felt.” Jack prodded.

“Reassembly? My arm bones were crushed into dust, legs were torn from my hips and chest punctured with holes. My neck even had deep slices formed into them, and my face was cut thousands of time with shards and splinters and shrapnel. All of it, had to be redone. Reversed. I felt all my bones remould and reform into what could pass as usable. My legs, joined again at the cut. My neck barely holds together. She couldn’t reverse the holes in my chest, or the facial scarring. Zeigler tired though, good God she spent weeks on my face. Months on my chest. And all she could do was turn me into this.” Jack waited for him to continue, and just as he was about to speak again. “I never even wanted it.”

Jack had no reply for this. He knew the feeling Gabriel was feeling far, far too well. But he looked at him, his blue eyes searching for something to lock onto behind the mask. Jack took his hat off, and laid it in the small amount of space between them, then raised his hand to Gabriel’s cheek turning it to face him. “May I?” Jack purred, hand now moving to the bottom of the owl mask.

Reyes nodded, and Morrison pulled it down. The mask revealed a broken face, one which had been torn and scarred. It left little to the imagination about what pain had be endured. Jack pulled the hood of the cloak down, revealing the soft black and greying curls of the Latino’s hair. He ran his hand through them, and settled on the back of his head. “I’m sorry. For not finding you sooner, for not helping you when you needed me. For being selfish all those years.” Forehead found forehead, and eyes closed following the apology.

“I can’t say I forgive you. But it’s a start.” With that, Gabriel leaned forward and met Jack’s lips with his own. “I have missed you though, mi sol.” He purred, pressing his lips against the others’ again. 

“Gabe I-“But before he could finish, the grip Jack had on Gabriel’s hair loosened into streams of darkness. Jack opened his eyes in panic, only trying to grip tighter as they parted and joined the shadows of the room around them.

“Thank you, mi amor.”


End file.
